The number of women migrants in many countries in the Asia-Pacific region is on the rise. While migration can provide unique opportunities for female workers to improve their livelihoods and gain greater autonomy, it also exposes them to new types of vulnerability and discrimination. This brief looks at the trends and patterns in female labor migration in the Asia-Pacific region as well as key policy challenges relating to female migration.

In light of the recognition of the need for a new approach to immigrant integration policy in the European Union, policymakers and other actors are beginning to look at the role that origin countries can play in the integration process. This policy brief explores the transnational dynamics at work behind the scenes of integration policy, including wider sociopolitical factors in origin and destination countries.

While a number of major migrant-sending countries like Morocco and Turkey have started to take an active role in the integration of their migrants abroad, the role of subnational authorities has been overshadowed by diaspora engagement initiatives at the national level. This report investigates how the activities of origin countries' regional and local institutions may improve the lives of emigrants to Member States of the European Union.

While there is growing consensus on the value of immigrant integration support prior to departure, such initiatives generally have not fully realized their potential. This policy brief reviews promising examples of predeparture measures for labor market integration in Europe that are jointly designed and/or run by origin- and destination-country actors, illustrating their potential to help effectively address some of the most stubborn obstacles to successful integration.

In a personal tribute published in the Migration Information Source, MPI's online journal, MPI President Emeritus Demetrios G. Papademetriou reflects on the life and career of Graeme Hugo, a world-renowned scholar and Director of the Australian Population and Migration Research Centre at the University of Adelaide, who died in January 2015.

Skilled labor migration is particularly important for developing countries seeking growth and looking to fill skills shortages. How can Member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) facilitate “freer” flows of skilled migration? This joint policy brief with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) explores the challenges and prospects for cooperation.

Remittances are among the most tangible links between migration and development. International migrants are expected to remit more than $550 billion in earnings in 2013, of which $414 billion will flow to developing countries. These multimedia maps visualize global remittance flows numerically or as a share of GDP.

New book offers a strategic road map for governments to build a constructive relationship with diasporas and examines the success and failure of policies, programs, and initiatives undertaken to date. The free-to-download handbook includes responses by 62 national governments.

From the Chinese in London to African immigrants in the United States, MPI's research on diaspora engagement examines the challenges and opportunities of diasporas across the globe and their impacts in their countries of origin.

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Recent Activity

This volume finds that while emigration may be beneficial in some cases, unhindered high-skilled emigration, particularly in the case of sub-Saharan Africa, can have disastrous consequences. The author, Arno Tanner, recommends specific policies where carefully targeted development measures could be used to mitigate the negative consequences of brain drain.

Over the past four years, the United States has resettled far fewer refugees than it did in the 1990s. The decline has stemmed partly from post-9/11 security measures. But this book explains other, deeper reasons, deriving from changes in how and why refugees move, how asylum states receive them, and the world community's response. It also suggests steps to restore the program and better address real refugee needs.

This report analyzes the impact of established diaspora on the reduction of poverty in their countries of origin. It examines their contributions beyond individual remittances, in the dimensions of foreign direct investment, market development, technology transfer, philanthropy, tourism, political contributions, and the more intangible flows of knowledge, new attitudes, and cultural influence.

This policy brief provides a background to the conflict and humanitarian situation in Darfur. While the situation in Darfur may not fit the definition of genocide in the traditional sense, the brief makes the case that semantics should not interfere with the international community’s obligation to protect civilians.

Through a broad overview of key policy and legislation dating back to the early 1990s, this paper finds that despite persistent efforts to coordinate an EU level approach to asylum and refugee protection, the process has been severely stifled by the lack of a philosophical consensus between Member States as to what constitutes refugee protection in Europe and globally.

Recognizing the particular challenges to refugee protection faced on both sides of the Atlantic, this report questions whether strengthening resettlement programs in the U.S. and Europe can help to address ongoing concerns over security, the volume and diversity of migrants, the rise of right-wing parties and the role of the welfare state.

Although the number of refugees displaced from the conflict in Iraq was significantly fewer than expected, the war produced some 260,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the North. Recent reports indicate that despite the threat of inter-ethnic retaliatory violence, many of these IDPs are now returning home.

Amidst heightened security concerns in the post-9/11 world, this policy brief examines international responses to the Iraqi refugee situation and explores various tools that can effectively allow states to reconcile security efforts with the continued commitment to international protection.

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About the Program

The Migrants, Migration, and Development Program focuses on the intersection of migration and development policies and trends, moving beyond simple notions that development is a “cure” for migration or that migration is a recipe for development. For more on the program, click here.

Related Work

How do governments institutionalize their ties with diasporas? Check out ourTaxonomy of Diaspora-Engaging Institutions, which describes briefly the activities and objectives of government institutions found in 30 developing countries.

In the Spotlight

Brussels Launch of the Diaspora Handbook

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Under the auspices of MPI Europe and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), panelists at this report launch in Brussels discuss the joint MPI-IOM handbook, Developing a Road Map for Engaging Diasporas in Development. Among the topics of discussion: How governments can best cooperate with the largely spontaneous engagements of diasporas with their homelands.

Free Book Download: Diasporas: New Partners in Global Development Policy

​The volume, which examines the development impact of diasporas in six critical areas—entrepreneurship, investment in country-of-origin capital markets, heritage tourism and trade, philanthropy, volunteering, and advocacy—is now available to download for free in its entirety.